Educational Research (ISSN: 2141-5161) Vol. 3(8) pp. 685-691, August 2012
Available online@ http://www.interesjournals.org/ER
Copyright © 2012 International Research Journals
Full Length Research
The laughing Buddha, doing business and the art of
motivation
Ang Sik Liong1* and Low Kim Cheng Patrick2
1
Faculty of Business, Economics and Policy Studies, University Brunei Darussalam Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE
1410, Brunei.
2
Professor of Management and Marketing; Associate/University of South Australia.
Abstract
All of us want to be successful in life. Most people are seeking that extra edge to move forward or forge
ahead. In this paper, the researcher-practitioners investigate the use of a Buddhist Icon, the Laughing
Buddha as a motivator to improve and better oneself. Buddhists pray to the Laughing Buddha
requesting for healthy living, good luck, wealth and prosperity; and the Laughing Buddha, as a symbol
of motivation, inspires them. In doing business, the Laughing Buddha way, it also helps
businesspeople in attaining good relationship, great patnership, prosperity, peace and harmony in their
business circle and society.
Keywords: The Laughing Buddha, Pu Tai; Buddhism, doing business, motivation.
INTRODUCTION
The Great Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) once said,
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.
This means that an individual cannot ever change
anybody else; he or she can only change him(herself)
and hopes he or she inspires other people to do the
same. All people, almost everyone, including the ancient
Chinese, want to change for the better; and more
importanly, be successful and prosperous in life. Most are
seeking that extra advantage to move forward or forge
ahead. And they may look for whatever sources to do
business, have more sales volume, make profits, gain
and/or simply to get an advantage; and why not?
Interestingly, some may also rely on spiritual powers and
effective prayers.
Buddha requesting for good luck, good health, wealth
and prosperity.
Buddhism and the Buddha are associated with positive
thinking (Low, 2010). Low in his paper argued that
action-oriented Buddhism espouses and in fact,
advances positive thinking.
Most Buddhists pray to Buddhas; some pray to the
Laughing Buddha. The Chinese, though at times
unwittingly, use the Laughing Buddha as one of the
sources of inspiration. And indeed, the Laughing Buddha
can be a good source of motivation; it is put in homes for
Buddhists or often found in Chinese homes and offices
as symbols of abundance and prosperity and sometimes
even as a god of contentment and happiness.
PAPER’S AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Literature Review
Here, the paper’s objectives are to examine the use of
the Laughing Buddha as a source of inspiration and
motivation. Buddhists pay respect to the Laughing
One can say that, in general, people do not wish or want
to have any sufferings; and they do desire and cherish
happiness. In Buddhism, it is believed that there is no
such thing as a creator and that the untimate creator is
one’s own mind. Since the mind is intrinsically pure and
good; and with good motovation, the mind’s verbal and
physical actions would become good and this produces
good results that are pleasant and beneficial for oneself
*Corresponding Author E-mail: angsikliong@gmail.com
686 Educ. Res.
and for others (The Dalai Lama, 2009: 14). In this
respect, the Laughing Buddha can be considered as a
good human motivation. He is said to be a monk who is
being portrayed as always smiling or laughing and hence,
his nickname the Laughing Buddha (笑佛; Hanyu Pinyi:
xiàofó). He is also being called as Pu Tai (Chinese) or
Hotei (Japanese).
This literally means a
monk and his cloth bag (布袋和尚; hanyu pinyi: bù dài hé
shàng). It denotes a monk with a cheerful face and a
protruding big belly; carrying a cloth sack full of things
over his shoulder and these things are to be given to the
poor and needy. Some Buddhist traditions consider him
as a Buddha or a bodhisattva, often identifying him with
Matrieya (the future Buddha). He is said to be an
incarnation of Miroku Bodhisattva (Maitreya in Sanskrit).
In 917 BC, his identification with the Maitreya is attributed
to a Buddhist hymn (偈语, Hanyu Piinyin: jìyǔ) he uttered
before
his
death:
彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識
Hanyu Pinyin: mí lè zhēn mí lè, huà shēn qiān bǎi yì, shí
shí shì shí rén, shí rénzì bù shí meaning Maitreya, the
true Maitreya; reborn innumerable times; from time to
time manifested to men; the men of the age do not
recognize
you
(http://www.newsfinder.org/site/more/hotei_pu_tai_maitre
ya_all_known_as_the_laughing_buddha/).
In
China,
Miroku is known as Miluo Fo (彌勒佛) or as Milou Pusa
(彌勒菩薩;
Hanyu
Pinyi:
mí
lè
pú sà).
(http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/hotei.shtml).
The Laughing Buddha absorbs negative Chi and
emanates positive energies. This is a very auspicious
symbol and can be seen gracing many homes, temples,
restaurants and vehicle dash boards. This is an excellent
gift
item
for
the
loved
ones
(http://anamikas.hubpages.com/hub/Laughing-BuddhaFeng-Shui-Symbol-Wealth-Good-Luck-and-Prosperity) to
aspire or be inspired to achieve certain goals.
The Laughing Buddha figurine is seen with a
protruding belly and a jolly smile. He is usually depicted
carrying wealth symbols such as pots of gold, large
ingots and a sack believed to contain treasures. This
Buddha is believed to be a person having extraordinary
happiness, patience and compassion. It is said that he
stomachs all the troubles and problems and transforms
them into happiness (positive energies). Hence the
common Chinese proverb describing him as such, “
肚大能容容天下難容之事。開懷便笑笑天下可笑之人。Ha
nyu Pinyin: “dù dà néng róng róng tiān xià nán róng zhī
shì. kāi huái biàn xiào xiào tiān xià kě xiào zhī rén”,
literally translated as, “big belly can withhold or contain
the worldly problems that are not easy to resolve; happily
laughing at those people who are meant to be laughed
at” (http://www.mldc.cn/yxrj/sl.htm). The wisdom is meant
to tell people that one should be “awakened”; has a
positive proactive mindset and continues to move
forward; and not to be discouraged or frustrated by
and/or be in any connected to all those worldly cares,
problems and worries. Very often, one of the authors
used this proverb to elaborate and express the meaning
in his painting of the Laughing Buddha.
The Laughing Buddha is also considered a patron of
the weak, poor and children.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The paper relies on personal observations of Buddhist
believers/practitoners and interviewing with three
Buddhist practitioners; in some ways, they may be
classified as mystics. The qualitative research interview
seeks to describe the meanings of central themes in the
life world of the subjects. The main task in interviewing is
to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say
(Kvale,1996). Interviews are particularly useful for getting
the story behind a respondent’s experiences. The
interviewer can pursue in-depth information around the
topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain
respondents to questionnaires such as to further
investigate their responses (McNamara,1999). This
interview method is helpful since it enables much
qualitative data to be collected from the interviewees. To
get more information and data from the various
interviewees, open questions were deployed (Cavana,
Delahaye and Sekaran, 2001); they were worded as
follows:
1. What do you think of the Laughing Buddha? What
does the Laughing Buddha mean to you?
2. How does the Laughing Buddha help you in leading
your life? Or in your line of business?
3. Why do you pray to the Laughing Buddha?
4. How or in what ways in which you are motivated by
the Laughing Buddha?
5. What do you like about the Laughing Buddha?
6. What attracts you to the Laughing Buddha?
FINDINGS
The results of the interviews are tabulated as follows in
Table 1:
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
The Laughing Buddha to the Chinese business people is
important because it is a symbol of good luck, wealth,
happiness, prosperity and contentment (satisfaction).
Chinese business aims for success and long-termism
(Low, 2009). Often, there is universal search for success
(Ong, 1994). Most Chinese search for success too; they
want to succeed.
“If one looks at the Laughing Buddha, one will see the
Chinese characters of “mouth” (口, Hanyu Pinyin: kǒu,
Figure 1) and the ‘kǒu’ is said to appear in three places:
one in the head and one at each knee of the Laughing
Ang and Low 687
Table1. Remarks from the Three Buddhist Respondents
1. Looked up to the role model.
“I want to be like him laughing everyday”; “I envy him and want to be like him because he has no worries”; “I
want to make people happy and he is my role model”. “Like the Laughing Buddha, I laugh to make people
happy”;; “I like him because he is kind and happy”; “I give donations to the charitable organisations and schools
because of the poor and needy; this is what I learnt from the Laughing Buddha who is kind and charitable”; “I
help others following the way of the Laughing Buddha”; “everybody wants happiness; nobody wants sufferings
or sadness that’s why I choose the Laughing Buddha as my role model” and “this is what we all should be; not
the body but the mindset and the attitude of the Laughing Buddha towards life.”
2. An example to be happy.
“I like him because he is always laughing”; “he teaches me to laugh away all my problems”; “I always feel happy
to see people laugh and smile at each other”; “When I see the Laughing Buddha either statue or painting, I feel
happy”; “when you are happy, everybody is like your friends”; “my three-years old son like to watch the Laughing
Buddha and he always laugh and smile at the statue or a painting”
3. A way to be detached e.g. through laughing or looking at the transient nature of our present life/living
“Laughing makes me not worrying; and I feel detached from all the problems when I laugh”; “I feel the sense of
detachment when I watch the painting or the statue of the Laughing Buddha because he is so pleasant to look
at”
4. Seen in the light of spiritual motivation – looking at things that are permanent
“Spiritually, I am simply motivated by the Laughing Buddha”; “The smiling face and the relaxing posture motivate
me physically and spiritually; this behaviour encourages me to be happy in all circumstances”
5. A source for getting or gaining more sales.
“Customers like me because I always smile at them when I serve them”; “I found out that when I am happy, I
serve more customers and gain more sales”; “I want to get more sales; I want to get more money” and “one
customer said to me that he likes my smilling face when I serve him and I said said that I learn from the
Laughing Buddha”.
6. A source of positive energies
“As a business person, I need to be positive and attract good energies”; “I learn to face life in a positive manner”;
“even though he is my boss, he makes people relax when he smiles and laughs”; “Praying to the Laughing
Buddha gives me positive energies”; “I draw positive energy from the laughing expression of the Laughing
Buddha”; “ I pray to the Laughing Buddha for positive energy to lead my life”; “ I like to see the Laughing
Buddha, it has a lot of good Chi” “I like it!”.
7. A source of peacefulness and that is motivating to lead one to work hard.
“I feel at peace and often work harder because of the Laughing Buddha”; “thinking of the Laughing Buddha, I
feel focus and I can concentrate my work better”; “When I start meditation in the evening, I always visualise the
Laughing Buddha to calm my nerve and to attain peacefulness”
8. A source of happiness and good health.
“I stay happy to attain good health. This is because I know that worrying and being unhappy everyday will make
me sick”; “I feel healthy when I am happy”; “the Laughing Buddha makes people happy and healthy”; “For
unexplained reasons and maybe spiritually, I feel happy when I see the Laughing Buddha’s statue or picture”; “It
must be the open hearted laugh that I am attracted to the Laughing Buddha and I considered this as a source of
happiness and good health”
9. A Way to live a secured life without temptation and be happy always
“Believing in the Laughing Buddha would enable me to attain, ‘知足常樂’ meaning ‘to be satisfied with what I
have got or achieved and to be happy always. This makes me happy doing my line of business and of course
taking care and be grateful with my family”; “the Laughing Buddha protects me from doing wrong deeds such as
cheating or lying to people; and bad influences” and “ the Laughing Buddha help me to encounter and make a
circle of good friends”.
Figure 1. The Chinese character for mouth
Buddha”. This is based on an interview with a Buddhist
mystic. According to him, “if four ‘kǒu’s are used, that four
‘kǒu’s (mouths) are supposed to represent the Laughing
Buddha”. It indeed stands for “abundance for the entire
688 Educ. Res.
family” (an interviewee’s inputs). Besides, the three
“kous”when combined is or reflects the Chinese character
品, Hanyu Pinyin: pǐn which stands for quality, and that
means the Laughing Buddha is being respected and
prayed for heavenly perfection or the utmost abundance.
Spiritual motivation is the best motivation one can
have; it is an intrinsic motivation. “It will grow and will
make one thirsts (somehow without any sense of desire
or attachment) for more as well as to help others”; “it is as
if one is in love... walking in the clouds; one is in cloud
nine” (interveiwees’ inputs).
“One needs to satisfy oneself first, one’s basic needs
need to be satisfied first and one’s abundance attained
before one can lend a helping hand to others” (one
interviewee’s input).
The Laughing Buddha is prayed for:
As A Role Model
The Laughing Buddha serves as a good role model; he
embodies the 3Hs, that is, he is happy, healthy and
helping others. He is also exemplified as a leader who is
warm, loving and compassionate to people (Low, 2010c).
It is worthy to note what Ong (1994: 9) has pointed out,
that is, the Chinese, noted for their adaptable industry,
business acumen and great love of having an enjoyable
life, owed their success to these all-encompassing
positive ideals. And they are:
1. Physical: industry and business acumen in
accumulating wealth and health. (The authors here
would like to clarify that to the Chinese being fat is not
unhealthy; in fact it is the sign of prosperity). Similar to
making the Laughing Buddha as a role model, most
Chinese also embrace the concept of Fu Lu Shou (福
祿 壽; Wealth, Prosperity and Longevity) as their
motivations and a life force in their daily living; these
three elements are also very important in a Chinese
person’s life. As said by Low in his book, they strive
for a complete set and a balance of these three
elements. If an individual lacks one of them, (s)he is
perceived not to have a complete and happy life, and
(s)he, of course, wants to have a complete and happy
life (Low, 2010).
2. Mental: great sense of enjoying life through a beautiful
culture.
3. Spiritual: happiness through family and communityorientated philosophy.
The authors firmly believe that the continual need to be
motivated, stirred or striving is one method which
teachers of motivation are aware of, and they frequently
directly, indirectly or subtly urge or cajole their people or
students. Indeed so, this is where reminders are really
needed. Note that the Chinese often like to place
signboards, tablets and Chinese paintings at their
household doors. These signboards, tablets and Chinese
paintings often with well written calligraphy, contain
undeniable auspicious words written on wooden boards
or embroidered onto some red cloth or paper (Ong, 1994:
68). The Laughing Buddha also serves as one of these
definite auspicious symbols.
As An Example to Be Happy
‘Whether we are rich or poor, educated or uneducated,
whatever our nationality, color, social status, or ideology
may be, the purpose of our lives is to be happy.’ (The XIV
Dalai Lama, in The Spirit of Tibet, Vision for the Human
Liberation cited in Metcalf And Callagher, 2012: 42)
“One feels happy when looking at the smiling face of
the Laughing Buddha” (all the interviewees’ input).
It is often said that “smile and the world smile with you!
The smile is a powerful secret of success” (Ong, 1994:
64). Customers like and enjoy the polite helpful smiling
services and would, for sure, return. However, the
Chinese go beyond just smiling. It may puzzle the world
that the Chinese smiles because he enjoys his work!
Indeed so, it is said that the adaptable ancient Chinese
sees work as another field to enjoy. So he turns his work
into a joyful activity which results in quality work because
this brings pride and joy when liked or appreciated. He
also turns his work colleagues and even customers into
friends he looks forward to working with. Folklore has it
that the Chinese man without work would be a bore; so
he works eight days a week without leave and he works
even when he is not well or sick! What the folktale
demonstrates is that the Chinese fully enjoys his
business (work) and the company of his friends found at
his business or at the workplace.
It is recommended that people ‘need to laugh more
and seek stress reducing humour in everyday lives.
Laughter is the human gift for coping and for survival.
There are various forms of laughter such as ringing
laughter, pealing laughter, roaring laughter, bubbling
laughter; chuckling, giggling, snickering and snorting. All
these are the sounds of soul saving laughter which
springs from our emotional core and helps us feel better,
see things more clearly, and creatively weigh and use our
options. Laughter helps us roll with the punches that
inevitably come our way. The power of laughter is
unleashed every time we laugh. In today’s stressful
world, we need to laugh much more’ (Jenkins, 2000).
Obviously, the benefits of laughing are to release one’s
painful emotions of anger, fear and boredom by the
natural physiological process of laughter (Jenkins, 1999).
As A Way To be Detached
A way to be detached e.g through laughing or looking at
the transient nature of our present life/living. As one of
the respondents said, “Laughing makes me not worrying;
and I feel detached from all the problems when I laugh”
Ang and Low 689
and another one said, “I feel the sense of detachment
when I watch the painting or the statue of the Laughing
Buddha because he is so pleasant to look at.”
(http://9dozen.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/om-manipadme-hum-its-meaning-and-importance/).
As a Source for Gaining (More) Sales
As Spiritual Motivation
If everything is fixed by Destiny or Fate, then where is
there room for motivation? Deep thinking minds are
rightly aware that belief in Fate or Destiny is often
fatalistic and can be an enemy of motivation. Buddhism is
not fatalistic as some Western scholars would subscribe
to; it is, in fact, proactive and apply proactive positive
thinking (Low, 2010; 2010a).
The authors believe that the Ancient Chinese Masters,
such as the historic monk who turned out to be the
Laughing Buddha, created a kind of cultural philosophy to
defeat Destiny. Ong (1994) also pointed out that out of
their brilliant minds came a philosophy to inspire and lead
the people. The ancient secrets of motivation created by
them are designed to move the people to rise above
“their common lot”, i.e. Destiny. (It has to be stressed that
these Old Masters’ approach to overcome Destiny is first
to understand that Destiny is real and that you need to
know what Destiny is before you could overcome it! You
must know the laws of Destiny before you can change
them.)
The Laughing Buddha can thus inspire one to change
one’s destiny. One can therefore work hard, pray hard to
reverse one’s karma, and by doing good, one also
accumulates one’s merits.
As one of the common Chinese sayings goes,
“善有善
善有善报
恶有恶报﹐不是不报
报﹐時機未到。”
Hanyu
善有善报﹐恶
恶报
Pinyin: shàn yǒu shàn bào, è yǒu è bào, bù shì bù bào,
shí
jī
wèi
dào
(http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/297048734.html)
meaning when we do good deeds we would received
something good in return and when we do evil deeds, we
would also receive bad things in return. It is not that the
reciprocation would not happen. However, it would only
happen when the time is right. This philosophy is very
much likened to the Newton’s third law of physical motion
which stated that action and reaction are always equal
and opposite to each other. And therefore, in this respect,
the authors assume that, according to Buddhist beliefs, if
we keep on doing good things for many, many
reicarnations, we would be able to live out of the karmic
forces and well live into the Dharmic merits. Another
school of thought in Buddhism propounds that one can
be spiritually motivated through a so-called cleansing
process of constantly reciting a mantra such as Om Mani
Padme Hum (唵 嘛 呢 叭 咪 吽) in sanskrit meaning ‘to
maintain one’s body and mind as pure as a natural lotus’.
Here, lotus signifies purity even though it grows from the
muddy pond and that it still maintains its character and
integrity; and not affected or corrupted (the authors’
words) by the environment
People are usually motivated to get that quantum leap. In
this respect, the Laughing Buddha is considered as a
deity of abundance whose images and statues are seen
in many business places. He is also represented as
carrying symbols like ingots, pots of gold, treasure bag
and usually associated with abundance, wealth and
happiness luck. He is said to bring incredible luck and
can be seen at cashier counters, reception desks, entry
foyers and lobbies of hotels and restaurants and almost
many
premises
in
Asia
(http://EzineArticles.com/1351552).
“I want to get more sales; I want to get more money”
(an interviewee’s inputs). This coincides with what Ong
(1994: 11, italics authors’) has highlighted. Most of
people, and the Chinese are not exempted, “may be
often, though not always so, (go on) a ‘wealth Chase’ to
get those extras of life ranging from flashy cars to
expensive watches”.
It is common and natural that when doing business or
serving customers, people would not like to see
somebody with angry behaviour, sad or sour faces;
people would like to do business or be served in a happy
and friendly way. In this respect, the smiling face and the
happy manner exemplified by the Laughing Buddha
would enable one to draw more customers, serving them
and doing business well (Low, 2002).
As a Source of Positive Energies Or Good “Chi”
“As a business person, I need to be positive and attract
good energies” (one interviewee’s inputs). Here, Ong
(1994: 52) has indicated that one of the most useful
motivation forces the Chinese blessing symbols have is
that they create a bright atmosphere in the home. Such a
bright environment instils optimism, so useful for success.
In this regard, the Laughing Buddha, a good Chinese
blessing symbol, helps to craete a bright setting as well
as instilling much optimism, helpful for one’s success in
business and life.
One interviewee commented that he “like(s) to see
the Laughing Buddha, (to him) it has a lot of good Chi” “I
like it!”. An auspicious symbol, the Laughing Buddha,
while absorbing negative energies, emits positive Chi
energies. (http://anamikas.hubpages.com/hub/LaughingBuddha-Feng-Shui-Symbol-Wealth-Good-Luck-andProsperity).
As a Source of Peacefulness
There is a Buddhist’s proverb which goes as follows:
690 Educ. Res.
As a Role Model
A Source of
Peacefulness
As An Example to Be
Happy
Spiritual Motivation
The
Laughing
Buddha
as
a Source of
Motivation
A Source
for Gaining (More) Sales
As a Way to be Detached
A Source of
Positive Energies Or
Good “Chi”
Figure 2. The Laughing Buddha as a Source of Motivation
Live in joy,
In love,Even among those who hate.
Live in joy,
In health,
Even among the afflicted.
Live in joy,
In peace,
Even among the troubled.
Look within.
Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of the way.
(from the Dhammapada,translated by Thomas Byrom;
extract from Teachings of The Buddha, pp.28)
It is indeed that the Laughing Buddha is a role model of
joy and a source of peacefulness. One of the
respondents said that he felt at peace and would work
harder because of the Laughing Buddha; and some said
that thinking of the Laughing Buddha, he can focus and
concentrate on work better, and better still, without much
stress. (These perhaps match with what Low (2008) has
indicated that Singaporeans or for that matter anyone,
need to relax and have cool heads.) And other says,
“When I start meditation in the evening, I always visualise
the Laughing Buddha to calm my nerve and to attain
society peacefulness”.
With all these remarks, the authors conclude that one
can find a peace in seeing, visualising or having the
Laughing Buddha.
The authors believe that having the source of
peacefulness can also lead one to have patience and
hence the two values with practices coincide and are
related to each other. Impatience can create anxieties
and make one be attached “to the belief that a clock runs
our life. A lack of patience is what separates us from our
body. It projects our thinking mind beyond where our
physical body is at any moment. Perhaps, most
importantly, impatience induces judgment and intolerance
of other people’s behavior (and abilities) as well as our
own” (Jones, 2011: 145). Here, in this it imposes
restrictions and inadequacies on us, giving us the
feelings of ‘not enough’, ‘’poverty’’ or ‘lack of abundance’;
and one would definitely NOT be at COMPLETE OR
INFINITE PEACE.
In summary, the Laughing Buddha as a source of
motivation can be illustrated as in Figure-2
Prior to the conclusion, it is worthy to note that the
research was not easily done as the researchers have to
handle the mystic/ Buddhist practitioner respondents, and
indeed they may speak in esoteric terms, at times not
easily understood and in turn needed much
interpretations, and confirmation. The researchers also
checked with what have been said with other faithful so
as to ensure objectivity and value of the study, picking
the ‘gems’, to speak.
Ang and Low 691
CONCLUSION
Life is easy for the shameless, cunning, corrupt,
brazen, nasty and betraying. But for one who is honest
and insightful, trying to pursue purity, it is hard
(Dhammapada 244-245 cited in Metcalf and Callagher,
2012: 33). On the other hand, in the Chinese context, the
Laughing Buddha has become a good source of
motivation to pursue happiness and help people to have
the positive energies in facing life; to do good deeds to
one another and to the society. The symbol or icon also
plays an important role in the business circle in helping
business persons to gain more customers and more
sales for the entrepreneurs.
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